Evo, also known as Evolution Championship Series, is an eSports event held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada with contestants coming from all reaches of the world. The games that players compete against each other in have changed over the years, but they’ve always kept the same genre: fighting.
While Evo 2019 won’t sport a GameCube title they’ve held for the past six years, Super Smash Bros. Melee, a newer title was represented in the fighting game tournament in its place. Let’s take at the new lineup of 2019’s Evo fighting game tournament.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate took the place of Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game that’s appeared at the fighting tournament for almost a decade. With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate releasing in December 2018, it only made sense for the fighting game to appear in Evo’s 2019 lineup.
In consideration of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s appearance in events around the world, it seems like this game is gaining traction in becoming a world title. Check out their appearance in E3 2019’s Nintendo Wowzer event!
Mortal Kombat 11
Mortal Kombat 11 was recently released in April of 2019 for the current generation consoles and Microsoft Windows. It didn’t release in time for Japan’s smaller Evo tournament, but it made quite an impact at the bigger tournament in Vegas. SonicFox, who already won multiple Mortal Kombat 11 matches at smaller tournaments, took home the gold for this title in Evo 2019.
Soul Calibur VI
The popular weapon-wielding fighting game, Soul Calibur, dropped its sixth installment in October of 2018 for the current generation consoles (minus the Nintendo Switch) and Windows. The finals of the Soul Calibur VI tournament in Evo was an exciting finish with an insane comeback play by Yuttoto, who took home the trophy.
Samurai Shodown
The Samurai Shodown Series has been around since 1993, but has stayed relatively under the radar outside of those faithful to the fighting game genre. However, since Samurai Shodown (2019) wasn’t released until June of 2019, it made its first appearance at Evo in August. Infiltration ended up taking the top spot in this year’s Evo.
Under Night-In-Birth
Under Night-In-Birth isn’t a new game as it has been out for almost a decade. However, it is new to the Evo 2019 lineup. If you’ve never heard of the title, then we wouldn’t blame you, as it is a relatively obscure one only really known to passionate fighting game connoisseurs. Fortunately, the exposure for this darling indie game was increased thanks to the popularity of Evo 2019 and the winner of the gold: Clearlamp_O.
The Evo tournaments bring together the best of the best from around the world and we’re looking forward to seeing if the current champions can retain their gold in 2020. Who knows, maybe even more new titles will be created and added, and we’ll see new champions emerging one after another.
Here’s one champion to read more about as your adrenaline simmers. Arslan brings up the aspirations in fighters who believe they too deserve to be called champions!
Evo 2019’s A Wholesome Story: Arslan Ash
Where there be champions, there need be… Games! More of the hottest games were announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2019, don’t miss out on them!
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